Well, I had this neat Idea and here's what it is: Figuring out what you like to fight/kill.

What I can think of is: Hereticus; Mutants, Psykers, Hereteks, Witches, Criminals, Chaos Worshippers.

Xenos; Sentient Xenos, Semi-Sentient Xenos, Beast Xenos, Orks, Tyranids, Eldar, Kroot, Necrons, too many to count.

Malleus: Daemons (Khorne, Tzeentch, Slaanesh, Nurgle), Warp Predators, Daemonhosts, Demonic Mutants.

And Imperatus: Navy, Guard, Arbites, Astartes, Citizens, Enforcers, etc.

That's it, I couldn't find the poll options.

Nothing worse than family...

Politics are the true killer...

Personally, my preference is enemies that don't exist in the tabletop games. My players are all veterans of the wargames, and knowledgeable about the major factions... so I use the Stryxis and the Slaugth and the Rak'Gol and the vassals of the Yu'Vath, and daemonic/chaotic/warp-spawned forces distinct from the "big 4" chaos powers, tech-heresy, archaeotech and long-forgotten creations of man... and anything else that'll keep my players in the dark and off-guard.

So far, the biggest nemeses of my party have been other Rogue Traders (specifically, the Fel dynasty), but they also have a fearsome story of traitor astartes proximity (having hacked off and stolen from a VIII legion warband).

So, odds are their overall biggest nemeses will be the Night Lords, but I like to mix it up with less epic, non-chaotic human foes. Unfortunately, they set fire to, then blew up a particularly promising recurring NPC based on Brian Blessed (originally an ally/hireling in charge of a mercenary battalion they hired, until the Rogue Trader made his daughter a love-slave, set up mainly so I could run up an I, Claudius reference), but I have a load of little people set up, some as disgruntled administrati, some rival Dynasts, some just criminal scum.

Other Rogue Traders acting out of their zone are good targets for a Player Character RT who can raid their merchant vessels for profit.

A traitor in their midst. Make one of the players a traitor.

When I'm playing, I prefer to fight Chaos. It's like fighting off your dark, hidden urges. You feel bitter, and a bit broken at the end, wondering if what you did truly mattered. Then you see what you saved and you realize that all you have is not worth more than another day as it is.

Fighting for lies because the truth would rip asunder something they care about, like the imperium.

Right now my players are wondering what to do with an inquisitor that is in their vessel's luxury quarters. She has made speeches to calm the crew, held services for the crew in one of the cargo holds and generally made the crew more zealous. Problem: her speeches also tell the crew to constantly check for mutants, heretics and other enemies of the God-Emperor. Two of the players are mutants that want to "space" her. Another problem: the rogue trader is worried since the inquisitor command such power and the crew love her. The RT is afraid of a mutiny and the inquisitor takes over the ship. But what can they do? If they kill her the crew will be angry and quite possibly burn the officers on stakes. If not, the crew would atleast tell others about the murder and the RT's dynasty would be hunted by inquisitors, most likely become permanent enemies of the whole of the imperium.

Svarte Hanske said:

The greatest idea is to get another ship from, say pirates (or maybe they allready do have one) and then gift the first one to the Inquisitor, she can't really refuse such a generous gift by so influential people....which will place her in a strange posistion having to on one hand be gratious to the players and on the other curse them silently as she can't do squat with a ship other then see her coffers emptying trying to upkeep it.

On the ships the Rogue Trader is supreme. If the RT feels a threat of mutiny, it must be eliminated. Task the Inquisitor with rooting out the possible mutiny and see what happens if it is eliminated, good, if the Inquisitor up and leads it, better, then you can just murder her.

Character-assassination could work. It would probably be difficult to do it and get away with it to boot. Thanks Leogun

The problem with the murder of an inquisitor is the possible repercussions. Even though the RT is supreme on the ship, the players worry about what happens when they step off their ship after having done such an atrocity without just cause. The "just cause" could be made with guile.

(When I first introduced the inquisitor I had not planned for her to become such a pain in the arse, but the players made choices that did make her a bit annoyed).

Hmmm, best baddies so far, an ex assassin working for the inquisition. She defected, faking her death and went on to be a prime facilitator for heretical cults. The PCs ran into her while she and her minions were trying to acquire a long mothballed Ordinatus engine for the Night Lords Chaos Space marines. On one memorable occassion she and her right hand man, a powerful psyker ambushed the party, capturing them and torturing them for information. They got very badly mangled before the ruling tech-priest (this was on a forge world) stopped in. He was so apolgetic that they all got replacement cybernetics. The groups arch-militant got new eyes after he taunted the torturer (never a good idea).

Since then, Admiral Bastille has become a favoured foe, as has another rogue trader of my own pedigre named Madame Paine (vicious psycho type). They've since destroyed her small fleet, captured her and are looking to ransom her back to her dynasty. Fun!

My groups favorite nemesis:

Hadarak Fel: Basically acts like Percy from "Scarlet Pimpernel". Very much a prancy, pretty boy noble type, complete with lace cravats and immaculate fancy cloths. He appears to have a nobles sense of entitlement and niavety, but he just always seems to be at the right place and the right time to profit from the players and thwart their efforts. In actuality he is incredably intelligent and ruthless, though honorable. I can't wait until the players figure out his game. He acts as a great peer rival, infuriatingly always one step ahead of them.

Lord Bastille: This one is obvious, and it seems like a popular favorite among other GMs. Powerful, ruthless, cunning yet unimaginative, Bastille makes a fantastic opponent. The players simply can't match his fleets power, so whenever he is around the game quickly switches gear from "all powerful Rogue Traders" to sneaky plots. He makes an excellent traditional "big bad", always intimidating.

Krooker: A press ganged mutineer, would probably join the IRA if he was alive today. He fights for the freedom of his people on the lower decks from the 'tyranny' of the explorers. On the one hand he calls their moral superiority into question. On the other hand, they can't just let him live, he is just to dangerous. Unfortunately his influence among the lower deck crews is growing, and they just can't roll well enough to catch him. He provides a fun change of perspective.

Finally there is...hmm, I can't remember his name. Feckwad? From lure of the expanse, works with the underworld. My group always calls him lord Farkwad, which messes me up. He never fights them, and always dissapears just before combat starts. An annoying rat, they hate him since he often seems to profit from their hard work while avoiding all the danger. They haven't figured out that he is providing Krooker with support in exchange for information on their activities.

My Favourite Nemesis for my PCs is the environments.

I put a lot of effort into making each world have its own 'natural' miseries that make life very difficult for the PC's trying to profit from there bounty. Fungal Deathworlds where breathing the air unfiltered is a sure way to end up having your insides filled up with a Entomopathogenic growth that leaves you part of the landscape.

Newly shaping worlds with massive tectonic activity with dozens of quick forming super volcanoes that shoot jet streams of liquid 'magma' almost into high orbit when they erupt.

Arid wastelands that hides its bounty within sand blasted mountains with storms and magnetic anomalies that would bring any vessel down, forcing explorers to trek the dangerous deserts to find their prize, all while hounded by blood hunting predators within the dunes and disappear into the sands.

Nothing makes the PC's more fearful then the surrounding terrain. Even their ship suffers from this effect, especially during warp travel. Ghosts and the inanimate start coming to life and surprisingly large numbers of suicides and murders start taking place amongst the crew, including the officers.

While I like playing the horror ambiance, I've also like getting down to the ruthlessness of trying to profit in the expanse.

The groups Rogue Trader had taken a liking to Lady Sun Lee, and she entertained his fancies. Funny thing though, she took everything he ever told her and sold it to his enemies for tidy profit, or used it for her own plans, carefully masking her machinations over a period of a few years. She also took the genetic material from their 'one night' of dalliances and impregnated one of her servants, a lesser cousins of her dynasty, with it. She then plotted the RT's death once the illegitimate son was of the age to inherit his Warrant of Trade by direct blood relation (It was his first 'noble born' child).

N0-1_H3r3 said:

Same. I have yet to introduce Orks, Eldar (though I have run an adventure with Dark Eldar), Tau, Tyranids or most of Chaos. The main threat the acolytes have faced has been the Istvaanians. Other than that I prefer to use aliens of my own creation.